Twazzup: Twitter Search Alternative
April 14, 2009
A happy quack to the reader who sent me a link to Twazzup.com, the most recent Twitter search alternative. You can try the system here. Keep in mind that if you are new to Twitter, you won’t make much sense of Twitter results. I’m convinced that Twitter content needs some smart software to provide context for the posts that appear to have meaningful information. Twazzup does some value adding to the Twitter hits, and when compared to Twitter’s approach, Twazzup is heading in the right direction. Take a look at Louis Gray’s analysis here.
I ran my standard suite of queries and was a bit dismayed to see that my search for “beyond search” returned zero results. I put quotes around the phrase and the relevancy jumped. The other queries were useful, but I have been fiddling with Twitter content for a while, and I don’t think I am a good “out of the box” judge.
What I liked about Twazzup.com was:
- The system was snappy. I perceived zero latency even when I was using my lousy Verizon “high speed” wireless service
- I liked the listing of popular Tweets. I am not sure that I am ready to abandon Tweetmeme.com or the other services I use to see what’s hot and what’s not, but I liked their inclusion
- The gray hot spots that open up relevant information could be useful, but in general I don’t use those service. I focus more on results lists. So “facets” don’t “facet-nate” me. Other folks love them which is okay with me.
On the downside, I find the presentation a bit busy, but compared with some of the Chinese interfaces I’ve examined recently, Twazzup.com is downright sedate. The multiplicity of buttons may be better suited to the young at heart. I am an old and addled goose, not a spring chicken.
Here’s the result screen for one of my test queries:
Give it a look.
Stephen Arnold, April 14, 2009
Twitter: Lover with Two Suitors
April 11, 2009
Network World’s “Twitter Yet Another Microsoft-Google Battleground” here made clear that Twitter is like a cute guy with two aggressive females interested in going to the mall. The Network World story references a cartoon but there’s not much humor in the write up. The article summarizes the tit for tat approach that each company has offered Twitter’s top dogs. The most interesting part of the article in my opinion was this passage:
Google and Microsoft need to be careful so that in their zeal to win the prize, they don’t sabotage it instead. Microsoft has seen the worth of its Facebook stake plummet, now that Facebook’s overall worth has dropped from $15 billion at the time of its deal to just $3 billion to $5 billion today. And Google’s MySpace deal hasn’t panned out to be all that lucrative for the search giant either. The fact that Google’s purchase of Twitter turned out to be either wrong, or very premature, is actually a good thing. Rather than purchasing an outright stake in Twitter now, perhaps it would be wiser to let it grow a bit–all while testing various ad schemes and monetization plans. The risk is that once Twitter hits paydirt, its eventual purchase price will skyrocket. But the downside is that Google may pay a pretty penny for Twitter now, only to see its investment disappear (think Dodgeball, Jaiku, etc.).
Let me offer a couple of observations.
First, jumping into a bidding war in a lousy economy raises an interesting question, “What happens if Twitter turns out to be the next big thing?” The anxiety might be causing the stomachs of the wizards to churn. If the analysis of the Prisoner’s Dilemma is correct, both of these outfits may be throwing bouquets in the hopes of “winning”.
Second, time is the enemy of both Google and Microsoft in this emerging real time search space. Twitter continues to become more useful. The Twitter jobs service here is a glimpse of its utility. A delay could create the same situation Google faces with Windows on the desktop or Microsoft faces with Google’s Web search. Once an outfit gets a bite on the market, shaking the pit bull loose can be tough.
My view is that sales of Tum’s will go up in Mountain View and Redmond until the wizards open Pandora’s Box.
Stephen Arnold, April 11, 2009
Twitter Amazon, Amazon Twitter
April 8, 2009
Twitter has not been the winner of the uptime Derby at least in Kentucky. One of my readers reported Twitter issues in Israel yesterday. What is interesting is that TechFlash reported that some folks are pointing a finger at Amazon.com, the back end for Tweets. Amazon, according to TechFlash, asserted here “Don’t Blame Us for Twitter Problems.” TechFlash’s story reported:
In addition to being a user of Amazon’s S3, Twitter has a relationship with Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos, who is a personal investor in the microblogging service.
Twitter seems to be getting quite a bit of buzz. One hopes the Amazon Twitter or the Twitter Amazon issues can be happily resolved.
Stephen Arnold, April 8, 2009
OneRiot Twitter News Search
April 3, 2009
Chris Snyder’s “OneRiot Launches Twitter-Powered News Search” struck me as a good write up about an interesting new service. Mr. Snyder wrote:
Unlike Google, which uses page rank and authority to display top results, OneRiot displays the most recent links Tweeted first. The results are updated constantly. Below each linked article, you can see who found it first and how many people have Tweeted it since. Users can also jump in and participate in the conversations.
He includes quite a bit of useful information. I want to fiddle with OneRiot. I have several tools to monitor the Twitterverse, and I am pleased with the results I am able to obtain. I ran a number of queries. Some defaulted to Web search results. I hit a home run with a query for food stamps:
You can try out the service here.
Stephen Arnold, April 3, 2009
Twitter: Bombed Out of Existence
March 18, 2009
Interesting write up and comments here. The post that caught my attention was “Can Twitter Survive What is About to Happen to It?” by Twine’s founder Nova Spivack. Twitter as an application does not fascinate me. Twitter as an indication of what can be done with pervasive connections and real time messaging does interest me. If you want a good run down of the weaknesses of the present Twitter, check out this write up and be sure to review the comments.
Stephen Arnold, March 18, 2009
Twitter Search Fail
March 17, 2009
For Twitter bashers, here’s a post for your collection. Navigate to BusinessInsider here and read “Twitter Search Not All That Useful at #SXSW”. For me the most interesting comment was:
But the #sxsw problem raises an interesting issue for real time search: If the firehose of information is already unmanageable, how will anyone make sense of anything if Twitter becomes as big as Facebook? Interestingly, both Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT) have recently dismissed the idea of incorporating real time search into their offerings.
Yep, sounds a bit like the dead tree publishing crowd explaining that online was a trivial technology. Might be an opportunity for those less eager to dismiss real time text flows in my opinion.
Stephen Arnold, March 17, 2009
Searching Microblog Content
March 16, 2009
The disruptive force of the flakey Twitter service continues. In case you have been hanging out with the goslings in Harrod’s Creek, Kentucky, Twitter is the somewhat unstable, rapidly growing, money losing micro blogging service. A micro blog is a text message that is short, less than 140 character if my addled goose memory is working this morning. Who cares about Twitter? Young people and the young at heart have tons of fun firing out text bullets in real time to anyone with a Twitter account. Unlike email which in theory is sort of a one to one communication, Twitter is spam fortified. Any post gets blasted to anyone with a Twitter account. To filter the stuff, one can “follow” a Twitter user. Dozens of utilities ranging from the silly to the stalker inspired are available.
I found the March 13, 2009, article “Microblogging Will Marginalize Corporate Email” here quite interesting. The idea is that microblogging is a disruptive technology. Over time, its utility will increase, particularly for “notifications” and certain types of marketing functions. I don’t disagree. If you are a Twitter watcher, you will want to save a copy of “I’m Not Actually a Geek’s” article. Ignoring Twitter as a source of useful intelligence is an oversight. The challenge of searching and generating knowledge from a Twitter stream remains an interesting challenge. I don’t think Twitter has a solution. Further, I don’t think any of the vendors whose software I monitor has a solution. Big opportunities in my opinion.
Stephen Arnold, March 15, 2009
Ignoring Twitter, Hazardous to Google Blog Search Traffic
March 13, 2009
Upfront let me say that data about traffic from reputable analytics shops are subject to considerable variance. The data are not “wrong”; the data represent a sample and must be viewed as “close enough for horseshoes”. The March 11, 2009, article “Twitter Search Traffic Po9ised to Eclipse Google Blog Search” here is interesting and suggestive, not definitive. Twitter, the two year old micro blogging service, is now being recognized as the leader in real time search. (Please, don’t write me to explain that another system is “real time”. Twitter’s real time means that the content exists in a transient form, so a query reflects the informational equivalent of taking a pulse.
The big takeaway from this Steve Rubel article was:
Consider this nugget. According to compete.com (an account is required to view this subdomain data), traffic to search.twitter.com tripled in the last six months. Meanwhile, Google Blog Search traffic is flat and, only until just recently, the same can be said for Technorati. More importantly, Twitter Search has just about eclipsed Google Blog Search. As of February, Twitter Search attracted 1.35 million users while Google Blog Search, which has been plagued by relevance issues, sits at 1.38 million users.
Even this addled goose has figured out that Twitter is doing something in search that Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo either cannot do because it has arteriosclerosis or because it sees the Twitter posts are trivial. In my tiny pond filled with mine run off, the Twitter content can yield useful, actionable information. Yesterday I explained its utility to a dozen law enforcement professionals. To my surprise, the listeners understood the value of the system. That was encouraging. Mr. Rubel’s interpretation of Compare data suggests others are on the Twitter wavelength as well.
Stephen Arnold, March 13, 2009
Twitter: SWAT or Sissy
March 8, 2009
Farhad Manjoo’s “What the Heck Is Twitter?” here joins the team suggesting that Twitter is a sissy; that is, Twitter can’t kill Google. Google is a tough customer. Underneath those primary colors, Google has a dark core. Mr. Manjoo points out that some blogeratti see Twitter as a SWAT team able to take out Google. Google has “special” search engines. Real time search is a category of search. Twitter has “a great future” (maybe) but it does have the T shirt that says, “Fail whale.”
You should read the Slate story because the online publication has considerable clout, certainly much more than the feather duster the addled goose brandishes.
I would offer several observations:
First, Twitter has a content stream and search is a relatively recent trendlet for Twitter. Twitter is primarily about inconsequential content that when passed through a user filter–that is, a query–can yield timely information. The point, therefore, is that the content can yield nuggets. These are not necessarily “correct”. Google doesn’t have at this time the content flow. Real time search is a logical jump to information that offers the pre-cognitive insights much loved by some analysts (business and intelligence).
Second, Google has been a company with great potential and game changing technology. Twitter may flop. But it has become for me an example of a segment that Google has not been quick to seize either with its own technology or with its Google bucks. Twitter is not my go to search engine, but it has become a case example of a company that has managed to make clear Google’s inability to decide what to do and then do it with the force of will the company demonstrated between 2003 (pre Yahoo overture settlement) and 2006. Since 2007, Google has been, in my opinion, showing signs of bureaucratic indigestion.
Third, users of Twitter see the utility of the service. My hunch is that if I showed Twitter to my father’s friends at his Independent Village lunch group, no one would know what the heck Twitter is, why anyone would send a message, or what possible value is a Tweet like “I am stuck in traffic.” Show Twitter to a group of sixth graders, and I think the uptake will be different. That’s what’s important. Who cares if someone over 25 understands Twitter. The demographics point to a shift in the notion of timeliness expectations of users. To me, Twitter is making clear an opportunity from micro blog message traffic.
Therefore, I am not a Twitter user. I have an expert on staff who sends Tweets as Ben Kent, so we can see how the system interacts with the Twitter-sphere. I am an addled goose, but I am coherent enough to look at the service and see possibilities. I would opine that unless Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo don’t respond to this opportunity, Twitter may become much more than a wonky service with a “Fail whale” T shirt.
Stephen Arnold, March 8, 2009
Google Twitter: Miscommunication
March 5, 2009
Henry Blodget’s “Google’s Schmidt: I Didn’t Diss Twitter” made me laugh. When I saw the blogosphere lightning strikes about an alleged remark by Google’s top wizard, I wondered if the reporters heard correctly. I don’t do hard news. I point to stories I find interesting. Mr. Blodget wrote on March 4, 2009, a story that allegedly set the record straight. You can read it here.
Which interstellar object is growing? Which is dying? Which is the winner? Which will become a charcoal briquette in a manner of speaking?
Please, navigate to Silicon Valley Insider because the good stuff is in capital letters with some words tinted red in anger. For me, the most interesting comment was:
In context if you read what I said, I was talking about the fact that communication systems are not going to be separate. They’re all going to become intermixed in various ways.
Several comments:
- The quote sounds like something I heard George Gilder say years ago. (For the record, the fellow who paid Mr. Gilder and me for advice sided with me about convergence. I prefer the term “blended”, and I still do.) Think a digital Jamba cooler.
- Google’s top Googler comes across as more politically sensitive. In Washington, DC, saying nothing whilst saying something that seems coherent is an art form. Mr. Schmidt is carrying a tinge of Potomac fever in my opinion.,
- The Twitter “thing” is clearly on Mr. Schmidt’s mind. My conclusion after reading the capital letters and red type is that Twitter has become a wisdom tooth ache. The pain is deep and it is getting worse.
No one is more interested in real time search than sentiment miners, intelligence professionals, and some judicially oriented researchers. The more the Twitter and real time search gains traction, the older and slower Google looks. In case you missed my post here, is this another sign of a generation gap between Google’s “old style” indexing and Twitter’s here and now flow? Note: Facebook.com is getting with the program too. eWeek has an interesting article here.
In my opinion we have a fuzzy line taking shape like those areas between galaxies that NASA distributes to show the wonders of the universe.
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